> ...furthermore this would let us add a way to specify the scope
>>nmb://name/scope
Two problems with the above...
1) The syntax is wrong. Technically, the NetBIOS name NEKO#00 with the
scope CAT.ORG should be represented as:
EOGFGLGPCACACACACACACACACACACAAA.CAT.ORG
to be RFC compliant. That's ugly, so most people use:
NEKO.CAT.ORG
In either case, under NBT the scope is technically *part of the name*.
2) When *locating* a share, the scope would need to be used. For example,
smb://neko.cat.org/share/path/catnip.gz
would first require a NetBIOS Name Service lookup on the name NEKO
within the scope CAT.ORG. Other machines may also use the name NEKO
as long as they are in a different scope. Thus,
smb://neko/share/path/catnip.gz
represents a different file on a different server.
Note, however, that there is an implementation bug in most (all?)
Microsoft implementations. When doing the acctual Session Service
SESSION SETUP, you must leave the scope *out* of the called name. My
read of the RFCs makes me think that MS got this wrong, but it is
sufficiently ambiguous that I don't blame them. In any case, the name
resolution (with scope) is done *before* the SESSION SETUP, so you
still wind up talking to the right machine.
...and yes, those names all look like DNS names rather than NetBIOS names.
This is a problem inherent in the implementations of NBT. The RFCs
attempted to map the NBT naming system onto the DNS namespace, but due to
the ugliness of the resultant names (EOGFGLGPCACACACACACACACACACACAAA--
ick!), the fact that MS implemented Scope such that only *one* could be
chosen per workstation, and the subsequent mangled attempts to force a
flat namespace into a hierarchical one, we are stuck. The common solution
is to try the name as a NetBIOS name first, and as a DNS name second.
Now you know why W2K tries to separate SMB from NetBIOS.
Chris -)-----
--
Christopher R. Hertel -)----- University of Minnesota
crh at nts.umn.edu Networking and Telecommunications Services
Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them
with your hands...you choose them as your guides, and following
them you will reach your destiny. --Carl Schultz